Senior Football – Donegal Boston vs Aidan McAnespies
By Neil McEnaney
Full Time Score:
Donegal Boston: 1-22
Aidan McAnespies: 1-15
It was Donegal who booked their place in the Senior Football final with a seven point win against Aidan McAnespies. The Macs knew they needed a win to keep their championship dreams alive, otherwise they would have to rely on other results that unfortunately didn’t go their way.
A few wides and balls dropped short for both sides started the match as the teams struggled to hit the target early on.. It was the Macs who struck first in the game with a well taken goal by Rurai Gormley after a great pass through by Eoin Gormley. Donegal clawed it back through the free taking of Donal O’Sullivan before Joe Hagan for the Macs kicked a great point from the left wing under pressure.
Daire Cregg responded in kind with a similar taken point for Donegal. A great run by Shane Carthy set up Ciaran Murtagh for a goal chance. Murtagh had the keeper beat with the ball heading straight for the top corner only to be denied by Darren Gibney on the Macs line who dived in to save it over the bar to leave the sides level.
Rory Brolly found a bit of space to tip over a nice point to put the Macs back in the lead. A free for O’Sullivan leveled up the score again. Points from Murtagh and Cregg extended Donegal’s lead before Rurai Scott brough it back to one point again. Some great work by Cregg set up Lowry for a goal chance but he chose to take the point as the onrushing Croft in goals narrowed the gap quickly.
A series of wides followed for both sides before Cory Gallagher broke through the middle to set Ciaran McDevitt up for a point. It was Gallagher who followed up with the point of the match kicking straight over from 50 yards out. From here, Donegal kept the pressure up on the Macs with points from McDevitt and Cregg to see out the half.
Half Time Score:
Donegal Boston: 0-12
Aidan McAnespies: 1-3
The second half continued in this fashion with both sides trading scores and Donegal keeping their lead intact. O’Sullivan did the scoring for Donegal while Fanning and Hagan did the damage for McAnespies. The Macs fought back well and narrowed the gap to three points with 10 minutes to go.
From here, the fresh legs off the bench for Donegal got them back into the game again. Two points in quick succession from Cian O’Grady stretched the lead to 5 for Donegal. The Macs had it back to 3 in no time with Fanning scoring from a free and Hagan kicking a super score that just curled inside the post.
With the Macs pushing everyone up trying to get the goal, a turnover led to James O’Grady being one on one with Croft in nets. He finished it on the ground soccer style and with that the ref blew the full time whistle to end the match.
Man of the Match: Cory Gallagher
Referee: Michael Moylan
Donegal Boston: Hugh Boyle, Neil Mulcahy, Cian Lynch, Ethan McDevitt, Jason Noctor, Cory Gallagher (0-1), Jordan Morrissey, Shane Carthy (0-1), Ciaran McDevitt (0-2), Ciaran Murtagh (0-3), Sean Lowry (0-1), Daire Cregg (0-3), Donal O’Sullivan (0-3)
Subs: Cian O'Grady (0-3), James O'Grady (1-0), Ryan O'Dwyer (0-1)
Aidan McAnespies: Robert Croft, Cormac McKeogh, Darren Gibney, Conall Devlin, Matthew Murnaghan (0-1), Owen Ward, Anton Tohill, Rurai Gormley (1-1), Joe Hagan (0-3), Rurai Scott (0-1), Rory Brolly (0-1), Eoin Gormley (0-1), Adam Fanning (0-5)
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